There were 361,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, . That's down 6,000 from the week before (that previous week's total was revised up by 2,000).
Claims have stayed in a range between 350,000 and 400,000 all year. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, has also varied little: it's low this year has been 8.1 percent and the high has been 8.3 percent.
At best, economist Joel Naroff , the labor market is "slowly but steadily improving." The Associated Press says claims are running at a level consistent with only "modest gains in hiring."
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